To ensure that you can enjoy the snowy landscapes and the Northern Lights appropriately and withstand the adventures of the road, we came up with a list of tips and tricks. Of course, those are only recommendations. We assume that you can judge the best about yourself and the capabilities of your trusty vehicle. Therefore check for yourself, which of the following points are relevant to you and which are not.

1. Team equipment

• Driver license
• Passport or ID card
• A foreign health insurance
• Credit card
• A little cash in national currency
• Proper sunglasses
• especially the yellow-polarised ones are recommendable for driving in snowy regions since they enhance the contrast.
• Two mobile phones
• Emergency provisions in case you're stuck in the snow
• A Thermos flask with some instant coffee and tea
• Thermal underwear
• Cold resistant shoes and outerwear
• First-aid kit and thermal blankets
• Storm cooker, methylated spirit and matches
• Tea candles and tissues

2. Technical equipment

• Proper roadmaps
• e.g. water- and tear-proof ones from Reise-Know-How
• A proper compass
• Powerfull torches or headlamps
• Spare batteries for technical equipment
• Fleece blankets or sleeping bags in case of emergency
• Navigation devise in case of emergency
• Since road signs might be covered by snow

3. Equipment for your car

What you should have at hand:

• Vehicle registration certificate
• International insurance card
• Please mind that your car insurance needs to cover Russia as well. In case you want to visit Russia and don't hold a proper insurance, this causes tremendous additional charges.
• Membership in an automobile association
• First-aid kit
• Reflective triangle
• Fire extinguisher
• Reflective Vest
• spare wheel with snow tyre [&] car jack
• Snow chains ahigh-quality jump lead
• A filled spare canister

How to prepare your vehicle for a frosty ride:

• Fill up antifreeze till- 40 °C in your cars cooling water [&] windscreen washer system
• Engine oilfor degrees of frost with low viscosity
• This is of special importance for diesel engines since the engine oil becomes thick with frosty temperatures
• Special winter tyres for Northern Europe [&] Scandinavia
• Those can be found at suppliers such as Continental or Nokian
• These tyres have special rubber compound to offer better grip for temperature below- 20 °C
• Central European winter tyres are not sufficient for Scandinavian roads
• Whether you’re allowed to usespiked/studded tiresdepends on each country’s road regulations. If you want to cruise with spikes, you should wait until Scandinavia to put them on, as they are generally forbidden in Germany.
• A fresh battery to avoid issues when starting the car
• Mount new wiper blades
• and take an additional pair as a replacement
• Get yourself an electric engine block heater
• this protects your engine from freezing. Especially in Lappland, you can find sockets to plug in your heaters on most public parking lots.
• Consider mounting additional lights
• rally-lights or LED light bars are a good match

Always-good-to-haves:

• Ice scraper
• Hand brush to get rid of snow on your car
• Lock deicer
• Windscreen deicer
• Vaseline
• to protect door seals from freezing
• Basic hardware oftools
• Socket wrench set, tongs, wheel wrench [&] co.
• Special work gloves for low temperatures
• Towline or tow bar
• Gaffa-tape, zip ties, wire [&] WD 40
• A set of bulbs - nothing is darker than Scandinavian nights
• Folding shovels, in case you have to free a wheel from snow